The present invention concerns installation and setup of brake dies in a brake press, and in particular an arrangement to facilitate rapid installation and setup of brake dies.
Brake dies are often used in the furniture industry and other like industries where blanks of sheet metal must be bent and formed, such as for forming brackets, drawers, and other like parts. For quality operation, brake dies require a balanced force applied across their entire width with sufficient magnitude so that the opposite die halves bottom out. Absent this action, the die tends to form incomplete and unfinished bends with inconsistent dimensions. However, achieving a balanced load is not easy, and usually the die halves must be custom shimmed and carefully packed so that a sufficiently balanced force is achieved. Further, the presses are often adjusted to transmit a higher load than is actually needed to bend the workpiece, in an attempt to assure that the dies bottom out across their entire width, thus leading to excessive wear and tear on the dies.
A large part of the problem is that each brake press and brake die combination requires a customized setup. Even repeat setups in a given press require a degree of customization due to variations and wear in the press, dies, and raw material being formed. This is further complicated by use of multiple brake dies arranged side-by-side in a given brake press, which is often done to improve press utilization and productivity. Still further, setup of dies on the production floor can be a difficult environment to maximize the quality of the setup and maximize the efficient use of die tryout personnel and tools. Also, brake presses often close non-uniformly as a result of press bearing wear or misadjustment, leading to non-uniform die wear, uneven or inconsistent clamping forces on the dies, and difficult die setup. The net result is a lengthy and labor intensive die setup that requires customized shimming and involves a considerable amount of production press downtime.
Thus, an arrangement is desired which will provide a consistent and quality setup of brake dies, along with improved installation time and reduced manual labor. Further, it is desirable to achieve this result without sizable capital investment, and in a manner that is compatible with existing brake presses and brake dies.